Out of the four gyms that Touchstone Climbing has in the bay area I have found the Berkeley IronWorks to be the best. I say this mainly due to the atmosphere, which is created by the members of that gym. The staff is professional and friendly and the gym also has a much nicer traditional style gym than the Mission Cliffs wall in San Francisco. All in all the Berkeley gym is worth the drive, even if the traffic on the 80E is a real SOB.

one other thing that's kind of cool to know about. If you have a membership at any one of the gyms that touchstone climbing owns, you get free admission to all of its other gyms! not bad for about $45 per month.

My partner and I did a tour this Winter Break, and you know, I kinda liked Mission Cliffs more. A little bit less traffic, more bouldering options (as opposed to vertical wall or overhang/cave), and I thought the routes offered more variety. Heh, they even had a 5.2 there that my partner and I HAD to try, we couldn't believe it existed.

Really!!! I loved the old boldering layout at Mission Cliffs. The long 'cave' that they had was always a fun chalange. But I understand that the reasion they decided to move it was to make room for more traditional gym stuff. That and to make room for even more boldering problems, wich is always a good thing.